One of the many lessons legislators learned during the COVID-19 pandemic involved methods to expand accessibility to the polls. Ultimately, legislators and Gov. Charlie Baker opted to keep the expansion of early and mail-in voting permanent, passing the VOTES Act, or the “Act Fostering Voter Opportunities, Trust, Equity and Security,” in June.
While the VOTES Act may be helpful for voters who are busy or out of town on election day, it has caused some town clerks — especially in small communities with few paid hours — to struggle with the added workload.
“People are frustrated with the length of time for in-person early voting,” commented Orange Town Clerk Nancy Blackmer. “We have been working seven days a week and we are not receiving any extra compensation.”
One section of the law requires early voting to be open on Saturdays and Sundays for a varying amount of hours according to the population of registered voters in town. Early voting for the Nov. 8 general election starts Oct. 22.
“The biggest problem for small towns like Shelburne or Hawley is we don’t have assistance to help with some of the burden,” said Shelburne Town Clerk Joe Judd. Judd, who does not have an assistant, is paid to work 13 hours weekly.
Voting by mail was also made permanent through the VOTES Act. Mail-in ballots require a multi-step process of filling envelopes, filing data and storing submitted ballots until election day.
“It is a siege,” Judd said of the popularity of mail-in ballots, speaking from his office Thursday. “Here I am an hour late overseeing ballot work.”
Carlene Hamlin recently retired from her position as town clerk in South Hadley, which she held for 25 years, and is now serving as interim town clerk for Deerfield. She also serves as the sole western Massachusetts representative on the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association’s Legislative Committee.
“Legislators moved forward with what they thought were the best next steps in voting,” Hamlin explained, adding that, unfortunately, clerks in small towns do not have the “tools” they need for the law to be effective. “They are lacking man hours.”
“This timing is bad because we are dealing with information requests at the same time,” Blackmer noted.
Over the past month, town clerks report being inundated with conspiracy-fueled records requests, particularly concerning data from the 2020 elections that most clerks — using very basic vote tabulating machines — do not possess. Hamlin explained that some of the requests are coming in nationally, and submitters often have little idea what they are seeking.
“The requests have become so demanding,” Judd said, “it is actually taking away from what I am here to do.”
Although clerks frequently receive requests for land records and other records that they do keep track of, the requests they’ve been receiving recently are more than they have ever dealt with.
Blackmer explained she has received requests for information she needs to destroy after 22 months of storage. She received an information request days before the documents were meant to be destroyed, leaving no room for storage of information for the upcoming election.
“We now need to buy extra equipment to store everything in,” she added.
“What you are going to find in these small towns working without assistants,” Judd said, “is clerks saying ‘I can’t do this anymore, it is beginning to evade my private life. I am not able to keep up because of all the changes.’”
Blackmer explained new clerks tend to come and go in waves. She noted these resignations are often timed with presidential elections, when there is typically a large influx in voter turnout.
Amanda Lynch, Northfield’s assistant town clerk who is also helping Leyden get through election season following the resignation of Gilda Galvis, echoed this sentiment.
“I can see for some town clerks that had been doing this for a long time how it might be a big change,” commented Lynch, who was hired in Northfield in May. “Most town clerks are older, so this is a lot of change for them.”
Judd fears towns will be left scrambling to find people who can fill in as town clerks resign or decide to retire. Hamlin, who agreed this is “a big concern” for the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, added that clerks are not easy to replace given the training involved and because they need to be recertified every three years. According to the association’s website, the number of classes required for recertification increased from four to six as of June 2020.
“Being a clerk is complicated,” Hamlin said. “We have to adhere to over 500 laws.”
Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.